I haven't bought fabric at Wal-Mart for many years, so I have nothing to say about it one way or the other. However, you really CAN buy some very nice fabric at Joann's, but you have to shop very carefully to find the good stuff. In my opinion, you should not go into Joann's (or Hancock Fabrics) and choose fabric just by color, since so much of their fabric is very poor quality ... flimsy, see-through, loosely woven and often the weave and/or the pattern/dye is flawed. I usually shop for quality rather than color and then, in time, I manage to get enough quality fabrics that go together very well. The best fabric I've gotten there has come off the Red Tag sale table, mixed in amongst the really hideous home decorating and garment fabrics. Over a period of several years, I've gotten quite a lot of excellent Red Tag "finds".